


Pierced

by orphan_account



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22783399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Piper doesn't know what an earring is.ORWhat the hell were pre-war humans doing to themselves?
Kudos: 15





	Pierced

**Author's Note:**

> All I'm saying is I've never seen any Wastelanders with piercings.

"Why do you keep staring at me?"

"I like the haircut, that's all."

Nora let out a huff, running a hand through her now short hair. After a week or so wandering the Commonwealth, the vault dweller had decided her hair was disgusting, and the easiest way to fix that was with a haircut. She had to hand it to John, he knew where to stop. Now, instead of having her hair as long as Piper's, it was a short almost pixie cut. It felt nice, way less matted and greasy, but she wasn't sure how to feel about it. She kept making faces at her own reflection, and Piper had laughed at her the whole time.

But then, after they had left, Nora kept catching Piper looking at her. A lot.

"Just say you hate it." The two hundred year old woman finally spat out.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Your hair is fine, Blue."

"Then why do you keep looking at me like that?"

The journalist hesitated for a moment. "I'm just… not entirely sure what…" Piper pointed to her ear. "Those stupid things in your ears. What are those?"

"What are you-" Nora put a hand to one of her ears, and it suddenly clicked. Her earrings, her long hair must have kept them out of sight. In truth, she had completely forgotten about them. For a moment, she thought her friend was messing with her, but the quizzical look remained. "They're just earrings, Piper." She watched the reporter's face turn red from embarrassment, and Piper crossed her arms.

"Yeah, right. Of course." She shuffled. They were stuck in a moment of silence, before Piper spoke up again. "Where'd you get them? I've never seen, uh, those before."

"Nate…." Nora stopped, rubbing the back of her head. "He gave them to me. For a birthday gift." Or maybe it had been their anniversary? The baby shower? Her memories seemed so foggy lately. "I must have left them in the day we got frozen. Slipped my mind between all the excitement I guess."

Piper shifted again, her interest now peaked. "What are they for?"

Nora sighed, mostly trying to think of the best way to explain it. "Before the war, almost every woman had a pair of earrings. They weren't really for anything. Mostly cosmetic, hardly even that. And horribly expensive if you wanted the really fancy ones." She paused. "Some people had multiple in one ear, but that wasn't very common."

"So there were different kinds."

She nodded. "Some people even had them on other body parts. But the name of the jewelry would change depending on where you got it. You could get one through your nose, or your eyebrow. Belly button was very popular when I was young. Among other places."

Piper wrinkled her nose at the thought. "How do you put it in?"

"Oh, you just-" The vault dweller lifted her hands to one of the earrings. She easily unsnapped the back, and pulled out the small piece of jewelry, holding it in her palm. "-do that."

"Wait, that goes THROUGH your ear?" The journalist almost sounded horrified, which made Nora laugh. "Doesn't that hurt?! Why would you do that to yourself?!"

"Piper I'm fine. It's just how earrings work. They'd stick a needle through your ear, then put in the ring, or stud, so it wouldn't close the hole." She gingerly snapped the earring back on. "And, yes, it hurt, but only for a day. Then you just had to keep it clean so it didn't get infected." Nora thought for a minute. "Probably why nobody wears them now." Well, that and the lack of actual body jewelry just laying around.

"Eeehh, I dunno, Blue. Sounds barbaric to me."

"I'm sure if we met two hundred years ago, you'd have a few yourself."

Piper snorted, rejecting the idea. "So people did this because…?"

Nora shrugged. "Good question. Sometimes it was for fun, sometimes for fashion. I got mine done just because I wanted to. Used a pair of my mom's earrings, she wasn't too happy about that." She chuckled, thinking back on the memory. "Hell, some people do it to themselves."

"How?"

"Mmm, they'd use ice to freeze their earlobe, then put a pin in hot water to disinfect it and stick it through the lobe like that. It worked, sometimes, but it wasn't recommended."

The news reporter shook her head. "That might be the dumbest thing I've heard of." She paused. "That being said, they do look really nice on you. I wouldn't blame you if you kept them in. Not that you need to, you'd look just as great without them. Not that I pay attention to how you look! But y'know…" She cleared her throat. "You-They look great!" The vault dweller could see her face turning red again, before Piper turned around completely and let out a nervous sounding laugh. "Wow! Is it hot out or what?! I'm gonna grab a drink. I'll see you around, Blue!"

"Bye-" She watched her companion rush down the closest ally way, which did not go towards the market place, or the bar, and smiled.

As useless as they were, Nora decided she would keep her earrings


End file.
